British Academy International Partnerships (Africa/the Middle East/South Asia)

The British Academy’s Area Panels have developed and released the International Partnerships (Africa/ the Middle East/ South Asia) awards scheme for 2010. These awards are for up to £10,000 a year for up to a total of three years and they are available to support the further development of ongoing links between research centres or institutions within both the humanities and social sciences arenas within the UK and Africa/ the Middle East/ South Asia. The links the panel are looking for to be developed further would need to be on specific research themed of a mutual interest to all parties concerned. This research could be further developed with the help of the award through visits in both directions, a series of workshops seminars and lecture programmes as well as collaborative research and joint publications. The Panel would be looking for the programme to provide a part of a training programme from either of the institutions involved and would ideally also involve participation from more than one overseas institution, this could also involve more than one department or university group or centre based in the UK.

Aim of the award
The aim of this scheme is to nurture and grow links between the UK and Africa/ the Middle East/ South Asia with the emphasis being in the particular area of helping scholars to further develop their research skills and so produce a joint research outcome. All applicants for this award need ot have identified an academic partner that is based in an institution in Africa/ the Middle East/ South Asia that will act as the co-applicant on the award.

Scope of Award
When applying for this award bear in mind that priority will be given to projects that include a training element such as the support and development of staff or postgraduate students ( both in UK and overseas). The scheme is intended to benefit early-career scholars from the UK and overseas, the projects that will regarded most highly will be those that incorporate junior academics from both sides UK and overseas. Please note workshops and seminars should form an integral part of the scheme and should involve both staff and postgraduate students. It will be expected that each programme will produce papers or some other joint research outcome designed for publication.

Note: For the purposes of this scheme South Asia includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.

Level of Award
These grants are offered up to a maximum of £10,000 per year for up to 3 years

Period of Award
Up to 3 years, funding for years 2 and 3 will be conditional upon receipt of satisfactory annual progress reports.

Closing Date
20 April 2010 decisions to be announced mid-July

Further information can be found at http://www.britac.ac.uk/index.cfm